Check out my interview on J.A. Beard’s Unnecessary Musings. She asked great questions!
Minority Report with Holly Kench
July 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment
“Minority Report” with Holly Kench.
“When I started reading Fantasy, I started with Tamora Pierce, Madeline L’Engle, Mercedes Lackey and Jane Yolen. I didn’t think of the characters of those books as any different from me, except that they were in way more fantastic situations. But as I grew into an adult, I started to notice that there was a pointed different between me and the characters I was reading about.
Almost none of them looked like me.
I wasn’t sure if that mattered until slowly I realized I’d like to see more diversity (and admittedly, more of me) in what I was reading. So, I wrote it. And sought it out in new authors. A very wonderful list of authors can be found here. It’s so comprehensive, I’ve barely scratched the surface.
But the point is that all of this thinking has been circling around in my head for years, and I’m sure I’m not the only reader who likes a little diversity in her literature. So, when author Cecy Robson got into contact with me and we started to discuss the lack of minority/mixed race in Fantasy, I knew it was something I wanted to further explore. And what better way to find out what other people think than by asking them?
So, I asked a few authors if they’d be willing to share their thoughts and they said yes! Which is how the “Minority Report” was born.”
-Quote from the blog of J.M. Blackman
Avid Writer: You Ask Too Many Questions
January 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A great article about freelancing, check it out!
Avid Writer: You Ask Too Many Questions: When I first started freelancing as a business writer, I used to troll Craigslist and other job boards regularly. My experience was pretty p…
The Addict by Michael Stein: Thoughts on a Book of Addiction
January 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Avid Writer: Overcoming Lack of Motivation
November 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Avid Writer: Overcoming Lack of Motivation
This is another great post about breaking through that writer’s wall!
I know many a times I have ended up staring at the computer screen, knowing all too well what my characters would do, but I do not know how to express it! As with everything, we writers can burn out, and sometimes we are far more vulnerable to it. The brain is a muscle, so to speak, it must be exercised and kept well rested. When you’re taking a break from writing, reading can be the BEST re-energizer. Enjoy! 
Writer Beware ® Blogs!: Introducing Writer Beware’s Small Presses Page
November 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Writer Beware ® Blogs!: Introducing Writer Beware’s Small Presses Page
All writers should see this! There are some red flags that can differentiate a legitimate small press from a scam…and there are scams a plenty!
Several small presses I have dealt with were not “scams” per se, but rather “non-professional” or as an agent once told me, “less than dishonorable.”
Small presses are more apt to offer a “poorer” contract than big houses (my personal thoughts), because they don’t have the big budget to back up a more “author-friendly” contract. By poorer I mean only that the author is often required to sign over more rights, such as movie, foreign, etc.
Just my $.02, and take it with a grain of salt!
Writer Beware ® Blogs!: Alert: Light Sword Publishing, a.k.a. LSP Digital, Returns
November 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
First Post…A Nice Little Surprise
November 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As the title says, this is my first post. Though I’m unaccustomed to blogging…as in never, I figured I would give it a try. Now that that’s over with, I can get to my nice little surprise!
I’m currently taking a course at Harvard and going for an ALM in Creative Writing, so it’s fair to say it’s difficult. So far, we have to write a number of analytical essays about the Gothic story we had just read (oh by the way it’s a course on Gothic literature lol). I’m easily bored…just the way I am, and instead of beginning another paper with the same old thesis and then motive and then…etc. I switched it up, and began with the following creative excerpt:
“A woman breaks free from the darkened field, boundinginto the looming woods beyond. She dares not look back in fear of the madman onher heels. Thick copious trees conceal the moonlight, drowning our heroine indarkness. A baleful laugh resonates through the heavy night air a tone as deepas a pit whose depth is beyond human imagining. Our heroine stops, musclesexhausted, breath sharp, and turns to find, looming over her, the madman.”
As a funny poke at myself, I made a remark following this excerpt: “This poorly written prose is the convention of a Gothic novel…” Not funny? Well, too bad, I thought it was funny!
Anyway, when I get the paper back, my professor had commented: “Not poorly written at all. It’s fantastic and poignant.” She even, later on, said I have an ear for language and am a great writer.
So, that was a nice little surprise! Especially since I’m frantic about having to get the mandatory B+ to pass the class :-\
I’ll leave you with something I heard the other day that made me laugh. My niece and I are sitting at the kitchen table talking, and of course she’s on her iPod, DS, or some other smart phone thing and blurts out, “I’m not paying five smurfberries for THAT!”
Now that’s funny! Lol
